He walks towards me, eyes full of joy. I smile brightly at him, so much that my cheeks start to ache. He takes me into his strong arms and swings me around, before placing my feet back on the ground and planting a kiss straight onto my lips.
'Hello you,' he says. I blush not sure what to say. I haven't seen him in a few months; the boys do more training than us girls, so he has spent the past 3 months in the training academy, while I have been at school learning the academics.
I am 15 and have already been training for 3 years, but I've still got 3 years to go until training is complete and then we can volunteer for the games. Cato is 16, so he's a bit ahead of me by age anyway. But neither of us is sure what to do when that time comes. There can only be one winner, and if we went into the games together we would sure enough end up alone, one way or another. However, I'm not much liked in the District. Cato is my only friend, my best friend, and also the love of my life. If I got reaped, I doubt anyone would volunteer for me; they want to see me gone. And anyone apart from Cato who I went into the games with would not care about keeping me alive. So all in all, it's not a good idea me going into the games anyway.
'I've missed you,' he says as we sit on the grass by the mountains. It's not that far away from my house, but Cato lives across town. He pulls me close and I lay my head onto his lap. He strokes my hair gently as I look up at him.
'I missed you too,' I reply. We spend the next couple of hours swapping stories about training, and me telling him stories about school. He laughs as he tells me about one of his friends accidentally hitting one of the trainers with one of the blunt training swords when he was really in the zone.
The sun is starting to set when we start saying our goodbyes at the edge of the field. I grab hold of his waist and hug him so tightly, a tear drifting down my cheek. He places his hands on my chin and lifts my face to look at him. Seeing my tears he frowns and wipes them away.
'Hey, hey, why are you crying?' He asks.
'I'm scared,' I tell him. He looks at me with a questioning expression on his face. 'Tomorrow!' I say.
'Don't be worried, you won't get picked. Even if you do, you're 15, someone will volunteer!' He reassures me. He places his lips on mine and gives me a long kiss, then smiles as we break apart. 'I'll see you tomorrow, and the days after.' He gives me a wink and then jogs off towards his house. I know I will see him tomorrow; tomorrow is the reaping.
